The present invention relates to a guide tool and method that is usable with the invention of co-pending application Ser. No. 08/487,765 filed Jun. 8, 1995 and entitled "Applicator and Associated Method for Inserting Guide Pins in a Fiber Optic Connector." The subject matter of such application is incorporated herein by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,730 to Nagasawa et al. further discloses multi-fiber ferrules of the type that are intended to be used with the present invention. See, e.g., FIGS. 1-4 of Nagasawa. It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to use with such multi-fiber ferrules.
Because of the small size of the multi-fiber connectors shown in Nagasawa and the necessary preparatory steps discussed in co-pending application Ser. No. 08/487,765, the conditions in the field, and the large numbers of connectors to be mated in a typical connector closure, it becomes difficult for the craft to accurately install guide pins and mate connectors accurately and efficiently over a period of time. With respect to mating the connectors, once the pins and gel have been applied to a plurality of fiber optic connectors, each of the connectors must then be mated with another pinless connector one at a time. The need to align the pins into the holes of a pinless connector is extremely time consuming, especially when performed one pair of connectors at a time. Therefore, there is a need to be able to more efficiently and accurately install pins and gel to one plurality of connectors and mate the pinned connectors with a corresponding plurality of pinless connectors.